Position change
In an effort to bolster the depth on the offensive line, red-shirt freshman tight end Nate Chandler has been shifted to offensive tackle. It is my understanding he will compete for the starting right tackle spot. I'll have more on this later tonight.
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About Inside UCLA
This is Brian Dohn's sixth season covering UCLA after spending 4 1/2 years covering the Dodgers for the Daily News and other Los Angeles Newspaper Group papers. He graduated from Rutgers, where the first college football game was played in 1869. Sure, the Scarlet Knights suffered for a long time, but now RU is doing what Jerseyans always thought was possible. Winning at Rutgers also proves winning is possible everywhere else in the nation, so underachieving coaches better be careful. Now, if only men's hoops can turn it around.
Does this mean Harkey no longer redshirts? And is this move permanent?
Looking forward to your update on this issue as I thought Chandler would have an outside chance at playing time from the TE position this fall. I heard he looked like he had hit the weight room...but jumping to OT?
If Chandler is even being considered for OT, that should open the eyes of guys like Siddoway, Hasiak, and Phillipp to come play for us. What does that say about guys like Dean, Mike Harris, Conner Bradford, etc. Guess we haven't judged OL talent as good as we should have.
Chandler looks good im interested to see if he can make the transition.
thats big news, would never have predicted that one but I have seen chandler on campus many times and he is very large, almost looked too heavy to be an effective receiving tight end.
I saw this coming, but I thought Logan Paulsen would have made the change considering his blocking skills(he dips his hips really well), size(I mean frame size because Chandler is little heavier at the moment, but Logan used to weigh closer to 265 before.), and the fact that eventually O-linemen should come in possibly leaving a slight void at the TE position in the future while having an abundance of O-linemen. We just need a short term patch and Paulsen just made sense to me. I also like Chandler's pass catching ability, although Paulsen is better than his numbers suggest. Regardless both players will be blocking a lot.
Makes you look forward to Chow dusting off some good old "tackle-eligible" plays, doesn't it?
Edward, I agree on Paulsen being a good blocker but he is also our top tight end and possibly top overall receiver, so we can't afford to move him, especially relatively late in his career. Meanwhile, Chandler has a full 4 years left to grow into a position (or prove that he should be a tight end). Brian, do you know what size Chandler is up to now?